This blog is about my fight with testicular cancer in the summer of 2006. It's also has cancer related to other cancers, treatments, and other resources to help you or loved ones should they get this. Some of them have cures, whiles others do not. This blog can help you with any answers you might need or where to go for help.

My worrying problem began the year before I started college. It was born of the good intentions that all parental advice is, however misguided at times. Every morning over waffles and hot chocolate, my mom would walk through the kitchen and inform me how many college students died the past weekend from binge drinking or how a family of four was killed touring a cereal factory that spontaneously ...

GROTON -- Jeffrey Bergart says he once thought Lance Armstrong was an "idiot." As a professional athlete, Armstrong should have known he needed to take the physical discomfort he was experiencing seriously, Bergart said.

December 1 is World AIDS Day. Check out the MedlinePlus AIDS topic page and also visit Drugs + HIV: Learn the Link from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Learn more about World AIDS Day from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Did you know that there is only one way to fully satisfy your appetite with delicious foods and stay trim and healthy for a lifetime? Apparently, unless you follow a low-fat vegetarian diet and exercise just a bit, you're doomed to obesity, disease and moral stigma.

As mom to seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, Linda Armstrong Kelly learned some life lessons that took her from a life of poverty as a young single mother to making over six figures a year and a corner office as a global account manager with a major corporation.

Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are defects in your circulatory system. The circulatory system includes the arteries, veins and capillaries that carry blood to and from the heart. An AVM is a snarled tangle of arteries and veins. It interferes with the blood circulation in an organ...

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Nael al-Kurdi died a slow and painful death, the agony made all the worse because it could have been prevented. Israeli authorities are under fire after the death of a 21-year-old Palestinian man who was barred from leaving the Gaza Strip for cancer treatment in Israel.

Just weeks before her twin sister's wedding in July, Missy Koch felt an odd lump in her right breast. Her family doctor thought it was a cyst. So did the ultrasound technician."They even gave me a pamphlet about it," said Koch of Newhall.It couldn't be cancer, she thought. After all, she's only 23.But it was. A particularly aggressive form of cancer had metastasized to lymph nodes, requiring a ...

Continuous use of cell phones can pose a serious threat to your reproductive health, says a study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The Preliminary results of the study have indicated significant reduction in the testicular size, weight and sperm count due to the Radio Frequency Radiation (RFR) emitted from cell phones. Experts at the division of reproductive health, ...

The health of Native Americans who live in cities is sometimes worse than their peers as well as other Americans, the Urban Indian Health Commission recently reported. While there is no formal public health surveillance for urban Indians, the commission, which was partially sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that...

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

A GROUP of motorcyclists have marked the end of a mammoth 13-month fund-raising mission by handing over three cheques to three worthy causes. In June, seven members of North Devon's Phoenix Bike Club completed an epic 10-day 2,157-mile ride from Land's End to John O' Groats - and back!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

There might be some bad news out there for men with above or below normal birth weights -- new studies are showing that they might be at a high risk for testicular cancer than those who were born a more normal size. To be more precise, men with low birth weights were 18% more likely to develop testicular cancer than their normal-sized counterparts, and high birth weight men were 12% more likely to be diagnosed with the disease. It should be noted, however, that the findings are only try to seminoma testicular cancer, which is the most prevalent type.

Researchers are not indicating whether they believe there might be a reason to these findings. I wonder if some unhealthy habits of mothers that may have lead to low or high birth weights could be playing a role in the health of their sons later in life? What do you think?

Luciano Pavarotti, possibly the most famous classical singer on earth, received a final sendoff this past weekend in his hometown of Modena, Italy. Pavarotti died last week of pancreatic cancer. More than 100,000 people filed through the cathedral and plaza, more than 700 guests attended the funeral mass and millions watched the live broadcast on television.

Pavarotti underwent surgery for a malignant pancreatic mass in July 2006. A month later, after his surgery, Pavarotti told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, "I was a fortunate and happy man. After that, this blow arrived. And now I am paying the penalty for this fortune and happiness."

One could not be surprised that Pavarotti felt this way. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly cancers, with a five-year survival rate here in the U.S. of less than 5%, although surgery can improve survival greatly. Pancreatic cancer is also one of the most underfunded research areas in cancer. For more information about what you can do to increase funding for pancreatic cancer research and raise awareness of this deadly disease, please see PanCAN's action page.

Safeway Inc. and the Prostate Cancer Foundation have announced that they will collectively donate $6 million to fund the S.T.A.R. Program (for Special Team Amplification of Research), an innovative research initiative focused on exploring the role of targeted heat in cancer therapy to treat prostate cancer, as well as other research strategies.The S.T.A.R. [click link for full article]

In Canada, health officials are wanting more men in the high-risk group (most likely, middle aged) to get screened for prostate cancer. Why? Well, only two in every five men in that country from within that group apparently have tested for prostate cancer in the past year. That's just too low.

An astounding 39 percent (only) of men over the age of 45 have taken blood tests to measure the prostate specific antigen levels, with only 33 percent having undergone a digital rectal exam.

In other words, there could be a lot more undiagnosed prostate problems under development with such a low amount of high-risk men being tested.

It what seems like an obvious result, a recent U.S. study found that breast cancer survivors who received both chemotherapy and radiotherapy were the most apt to have severe fatigue. In addition, that fatigue lasted for prolonged periods of time.

Over 221 women in the early stages of breast cancer were looked at in this study, with the expectation of the greatest amount of fatigue just after initial treatment.

But, when chemo was combined with radiotherapy, fatigue was pronounced for longer periods of time. No wonder depression is often a side effect of traditional cancer treatment.

A new study from researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine shows that yoga can benefit ethnic minority breast cancer survivors, particularly African-Americans and Hispanics, as well as those from under-served communities.

During the 12 week study, researchers compared quality of life measures between two groups of women with early stage breast cancer; one group took a weekly yoga class and the other group didn't. More women in the non-yoga group experienced a worsening of social well-being compared to the yoga group. The yoga classes seemed to offer social support, which may have helped counteract loneliness and isolation, which is common after a cancer diagnosis.

The women in the yoga group participated in a gentle, seated form of yoga based on Integral Hatha Yoga, and classes were provided in both English and Spanish.

It's something that many women would cheer about -- the use of oral contraceptives actually lowers overall cancer risk as a side effect.

A 12 percent decrease in cancer risk was the conclusion of a very large study that looked at the correlation between oral contraceptives and cancer, as over 46,000 women were tracked over four decades since oral contraceptives began to be widely used in the late 1960s.

However, an increase in cervical cancer risk was found in women who had taken birth control pills for eight years or longer.

Millions of people around the world die in severe pain due to bans of morphine, reportsThe New York Times. While poverty plays a role, doctors also fear law enforcement of morphine bans.

The World Health Organization estimates that 4.8 million people around the world suffer with moderate to severe cancer pain in addition to millions who suffer needless from late-state AIDS pain. At pain conferences, doctors from Africa describe patients whose pain is so bad that they throw themselves in front of trucks.

In another related article, the newspaper examines the slow movement of the Japanese culture away from the fear of painkillers.

Popular celebrities like Kate Moss and Scarlett Johansson have lent their signature style to the fight against cancer by designing charms that reflect their own character, which will be sold with the profits going to a prominent UK cancer charity. The charms are appearing on a necklace that is being sold at Wallis for about $51USD each. Moss' charm is a petite swallow, while Johansson's is a vibrant yellow and orange lilly. Other contributors include designer Christian Louboutin and comedian Catherin Tate.

I think it's great to see celebrities and designers offering their time and their good taste towards a good cause. Don't you agree?

In the last decade, we've seen studies that try to link mobile phone use to all kinds of cancer, the most common type being brain cancer. The thinking is that the radiation output from these devices affects the brain when those phones are held close to the head for extended periods.

Well, here's one to shoot this theory down, I guess. In Australia, authorities there have said that mobile phone use does not cause cancer, and talking on a phone in the car is no more dangerous than having a passenger aboard. Wow-- those are heavy hitters.

For many of us, those ultra low-power Bluetooth headsets are the solution for not holding that cellphone near your head for along periods of time. You?

WASHINGTON, D.C.----Safeway Inc. and the Prostate Cancer Foundation today announced they will collectively donate $6 million to fund the S.T.A.R. Program , an innovative research initiative focused on exploring the role of targeted heat in cancer therapy to treat prostate cancer, as well as other research strategies.

Experience Project is launching a new online cancer support network , The Cancer Support Project, on October 1st, 2007.

Experience Project is built around dynamic groups of users who come onto the platform, share narratives and personal stories about their life experiences, and then connect with others who are going through the same experiences. Experience Project will never ask for your name; you can keep your identity completely private while meeting new friends who can understand you.

The central goal of The Cancer Support Project is to provide a hub for emotional and psychological support for all experiences involving cancer, including experiences as a survivor or a caregiver, something that is not currently widely addressed as many sites focus on sharing information regarding therapies. The Experience Project will also be launching a Facebook application within The Cancer Support Project to enable people to show their support and raise cancer awareness via Facebook, MySpace, blogs and web pages.

According to researchers at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, congestive heart failure rarely occurs among leukemia patients who take Gleevec (imatinib).

The study was led by Dr. Jorge Cortes who said that there is no need for routine cardio-specific monitoring of all patients taking imatinib, although those with cardiac history should be close monitored. In a separate paper lasat year, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania reported that imatinib may be cardio-toxic in humans.

Imatinib targets two members of the tyrosine kinase class of enzymes and a hybrid tyrosine kinase known to cause chronic myologenous leukemia (CML) and Ph-postive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Before imatinib, only about half of CML patients survived five years. Now the five year survival rate is 95 percent.

Postmenopausal women who consume two or more alcoholic drinks a day may double their risk of endometrial cancer, according to a new study published by Veronica Wendy Setiawan and colleagues at the University of Southern California.

Endometrial cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductive system and accounts for six percent of all cancers in women, according to the NCI.

According to Setiawan, previous studies have shown that alcohol consumption has been associated with higher estrogen levels in postmenopausal women, which could be the mechanism that increases the risk of endometrial cancer.

Safeway Inc. ( Nachrichten ) and the Prostate Cancer Foundation today announced they will collectively donate $6 million to fund the S.T.A.R. Program (for Special Team Amplification of Research), an innovative research initiative focused on exploring the role of targeted heat in cancer therapy to treat prostate cancer, as well as other research strategies.

For regular readers of this blog, I have disappointing news. The Cancer Blog is now retired. That means that, while it will still be available for reading and searching, new posts will not be added. Our Cardio and Diabetes blogs are also being retired, which I mention here because some readers bookmarked more than one of the Life Sciences group.

The choice to stop publishing these three blogs is a business decision, and has nothing whatsoever to do with their quality. I am, and everyone here is, deeply grateful to the bloggers whose dedication to these sites gave so much information and inspiration to thousands of people. These three blogs are among the longest-running properties in our network, and it is sad to let them go.

Thank you to our many readers for visiting us, and sharing in the community here.

It might seem to be a bit of a contradiction to sell alcohol in support of cancer, but actually wine (in moderation) can help reduce to your risk of several types of cancer, not to mention heart disease. Just make sure you stick to one glass a night and enjoy the benefits of a good vintage.

I'm curious to know that you think though. Is it wrong to sell wine to raise money for breast cancer?

A mutation in the BRAF oncogene, BRAF V600E, has been linked to the most common type of tyroid cancer, conventional papillary thyroid cancer or PTC. A new study shows that this mutation is also significantly associated with cancer recurrence after treatment, according to Dr. Electron Kebebew at UCSF.

Most patients diagnosed wtih PTC have small, localized PTC, but may receive aggressive treatments becasue their risk of recurrence cannot be predicted before surgery.

According to the researchers, this result shows that this particular mutation is a reliable indicator for recurrence likelihood and testing for the mutation may be useful for selecting the initial therapy.

Go Local connects users with local health services. For example, check out goLocalUtah - gLU and Go Local Wyoming. To find local resources, you can go straight to your local area or use the Go Local link on a MedlinePlus Health Topic Page.

It's interesting when a drug is re-purposed into something aimed at fighting cancer, but that is what has happened to Evista, a prescription drug made by Eli Lilly which was originally for osteoporosis patients.

The FDA has officially approved Evista for use in breast cancer patients as of late this week, although the drug will now come with a box warning advising patients of a heightened risk for stroke by taking the drug.

I'm not sure -- are some drugs worth the possible benefits when certain side effects can be just as bad as what is trying to be treated?

1. Symptoms do exist. Bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating, feeling full quickly, and frequent or urgent urinating are have been shown to be related to a possible case of ovarian cancer and if they persist you should see your doctor.2. There is no early detection screening test currently.3. All women should get yearly pelvic exams.4. Ovarian cancer is difficult to treat because it's often resistant to current treatments.5. Survival rates are better at the early stage.6. Most common in older white women. 7. A small number of ovarian cancers are hereditary, linked to the same genes that are linked to breast cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2.8. The best person to treat ovarian cancer is a gynecologic oncologist.

The new edition of NIH MedlinePlus Magazine features a section on understanding stroke, help with back pain, and advice on smart food choices.

In the cover story, film actor and academy award winner Kirk Douglas says that his stroke in 1996 was (and we quote) 'a blessing in disguise' (end of quote). Douglas explains his post-stroke commitment to speech therapy and exercise revitalized his appreciation for life, learning and health and affection for friends and family...

Sex after surgery is possible Testicular cancer can strike men of any age, but is most frequently diagnosed in those younger than 30. Thankfully, the disease has an incredibly high survival rate, and at least 90% of those diagnosed with testicular cancer reach full remission.

According to an article in CANCER, mental illness and emotional distress in patients with advanced cancer is often overlooked by oncologists, but proper management can improve a patient's quality of life.

The review article was written by Dr. Michael Miovic and Dr. Susan Block from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Miovic and Block found that 50 percent or more of patients with advanced or terminal cancer suffer from at least one of three major disorders: adjustment disorders, anxiety disorders and depressive disorders. Medical management of cancer has improved in the last decade, but management of mental health issues has lagged, according to the authors. Studies show that depressive symptoms can even impact patients' lives even more than pain.

The authors recommend listening as the most important screening tool in the oncologist's toolkit.

Over 35,000 young men are diagnosed with cancer every year and 90% of these patients are at risk for infertility from their cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Live:On, a new sperm banking by mail kit developed in collaboration with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Fertile Hope and Cryogenic Laboratories, Inc., provides an immediate, easy and private way for these ...

A local man needs your help after undergoing multiple surgeries, bone marrow transplants and several chemotherapy treatments-all without medical insurance. Chad Bleakney was diagnosed with Testicula...

A new animal rescue group, Precious Animals Welfare Society of Michigan or PAWS has formed Downriver. Its home base is Riverview. The group has 45 members after its first couple of months in existence, and helps homeless animals find permanent homes.

The new edition of NIH MedlinePlus Magazine features a section on understanding stroke, help with back pain, and advice on smart food choices.

In the cover story, film actor and academy award winner Kirk Douglas says that his stroke in 1996 was (and we quote) 'a blessing in disguise' (end of quote). Douglas explains his post-stroke commitment to speech therapy and exercise revitalized his appreciation for life, learning and health and affection for friends and family...

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